Norman's Cay

Norman's Cay is an island in the Bahamas that is most famous for being the transshipment point for drugs and money for the Medellin Cartel from 1978 to 1982. Carlos Lehder, the pilot who flew hundreds of kilograms into the United States from Colombia, needed a place to refuel, so he bought the island and built a home, hotel, and airstrip on the island. Lehder pushed native inhabitants and vacationers off of the island, and armed guards patrolled the beachs as air traffic over Norman's Cay increased. Norman's Cay became a center of debauchery for criminals, with one cartel member recalling that visitors would be picked up in a Land Rover with the top down as naked women drove to welcome visitors to the island. There was no law on the island, and drugs and sex were very common. In 1982, the United States pressured the Bahamian government to crack down on the drug traffickers, and they were forced off the island, with Lehder being arrested in 1987.